


Late Night Honesty

by queen_scribbles



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Denial of Feelings, F/M, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Reluctantly in Love, implied PTSD, post-book 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22129363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: There's only so long a girl can reasonably be expected to sit still. Even if shedidjust almost die.
Relationships: Female Detective & Felix Hauville, Female Detective/Adam du Mortain
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	Late Night Honesty

Two weeks.

She’d been stuck in this room for two weeks. _Fourteen whole days_. And she was starting to go stir-crazy.

“ _You need your rest,_ ” her mother insisted.

“ _You’ll heal faster_ ,” Nate encouraged.

“ _Push too hard and you’ll relapse_ ,” Elidor warned.

Due respect to all of them, but she was tougher than she looked, and they weren’t the ones stuck surrounded by dull beige walls and not even a window for some kind of view. Mallory was getting very close to telling them exactly where they could stick their advice. (Especially Nate; she valued the man’s friendship and knew he was only trying to help, but in her opinion, anyone with supernatural healing abilities needed to keep their attractive mouths shut regarding those who had to do without that advantage.) At least she didn’t have to take those damn pills anymore. And she had been walking around her room for the past several days without incident beyond Elidor fussing when he thought she was trying too hard.

But she felt (mostly) fine now, and desperately needed to at least go through the motions of her workout routine, even if done in such a way to avoid over- exertion. She’d forgone it enough days to make her palms itch. So she stuffed her feet in the slippers by her bed, tugged straight her sweatpants and t-shirt, and poked her head out the door.

To her surprise, the hall was empty. No hovering nurse, no concerned vampire, no Mum. No one to talk her way past with half-truths about where she was headed or persuade to let her go alone. _Works for me_ , Mallory thought with a half-smile, tightening her ponytail as she stepped into the hall and tugged the door closed behind her.

Digging through memories of her first visit, she figured out which direction to head from what she mentally referred to as the hospital wing and set off at a pace best described as a mosey. Elidor, at least, had half a point; pushing too hard would mean a relapse, they just differed on what they considered ‘too hard’. This would be fine. _She_ was fine.

To her mild surprise, Mallory actually made it through a few turns in the maze of hallways without anyone acting concerned about where she was headed. Of course, she only passed two or three agents, all of whom simply nodded and murmured _‘Detective’_ as they passed. Mallory nodded back and kept walking. If she didn’t act suspicious, maybe no one would ask what she was doing or where she was heading.

The next corner she rounded, however, nearly ran her slap-bang into a familiar figure, far closer to her height than almost anyone else here.

“Just the person I was looking for,” Felix grinned, grabbing her arm to steady her. “Though not where I was expecting to find you. Finally decide to escape, did you?”

Mallory shrugged and crossed her arms. “It’s not escaping if no one’s explicitly told me not to leave.”

He laughed. “Planning to ask forgiveness rather than permission?”

“Don’t need either; I’m a big girl,” she retorted, eyes narrowing when he bit his lip, eyes glinting with mischief. “Make that comment and I’ll whup your ass. Super healing or no.”

Felix chuckled and held up his hands in a gesture of innocence. “Dunno what you’re talking about. And I’m sure you’d _try_.”

“Sure y’ don’t.” Mallory lightly kicked the wall.

He gave a jovial shrug and changed the subject. “So where were you headed? Maybe I’ll tag along.”

“Training room,” she said, spine already tensing defensively. “I’ve gone too long without punching something; it’s making me fidgety.”

“Might not be my first choice,” Felix commented, skipping right over the suffocating concern she’d feared and tugging her back into motion. “But I think you’ll still be better company than some others I could name.”

“Alright, you can keep an eye out for the fainting spells my mother and Nate are _so sure_ will overtake me with the slightest bit of exertion,” she deadpanned.

He grinned. “Do I get to catch you if you swoon? Please say yes.”

Mallory couldn’t resist a chuckle. “While I doubt there will be any swooning, sure, feel free to catch me if I’m wrong.”

-o-

The training room was empty when they reached it, the lights flickering ever so slightly as Felix closed the door behind them.

That was the final straw that prompted Mallory to ask, “Where is everyone?” She’d seen far more people on her first visit to the facility, and the place being all ghost-town now was more than a little unnerving.

Felix chuckled and leaned against the wall. “Well, most are probably sleeping; I think it’s roughly... 2:30 in the morning?”

She shook her head and sighed. “Of course it is. My internal clock’s going to be screwy for months at this rate.”

He smiled sympathetically. “You can always go back to your room and try to sleep. S’what I figured you’d be doing.”

“No.” Mallory kicked off her slippers and stepped onto the nearest training mat. She gave the punching bag that hung over it an experimental nudge to test its resistance. It moved stiffly and not very far. _Good, won’t have to pull my punches much to avoid it swinging back to hit me in the face_. “I need this, and we’re already here, might as well.”

Felix shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets, amber eyes glinting as he watched her. “Your call.”

She let out a slow breath and cracked her knuckles as she mentally reviewed her routine. It was a struggle to recall in spots after so long without doing it, and Mallory frowned to herself as she swung into motion. Fortunately, her irritation proved premature; each step came to her as she reached it, flowing through from move to move with long practice. She lost herself in the familiarity and almost forgot she had company. It helped that Felix was was actually _quiet_ as he watched. She didn’t trust that smile tugging at his lips, though.

Especially when it started to spread, his eyes gleaming like he _knew something._ “So, detective, I have a question.”

Mallory raised a brow, more grateful for the excuse to rest than she thought she’d be. “What?” she panted as she reached up to adjust her ponytail.

“There’s this thing you do with the higher, spinning kicks where you ever so slightly lean back on your heel and shift as you’re turning,” Felix began, pushing away from the wall and offering her one of the water bottles from a small table shoved against the wall.

She took it with a nod of thanks. “And?”

“Just curious if that’s part of any particular style is all, ‘cause you do it, and Adam does it, but Nate doesn’t.” He grinned. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. I’m infiltration and reconnaissance; of course I watch friends as well as enemies.”

Mallory snorted. He had a point. “Maybe Nate doesn’t _have to_ b’cause his legs are almost as long as my entire body,” she said dryly. “But I don’t really remember when I started doing it, it just helps keep my balance for follow-through.” She tried to ignore the small, smug seed of warmth brought on by the fact she and Adam had a similar quirk to their styles as she took a drink. _I don’t care, why would I **care**?_

“Adam’s not _that_ much shorter than Nate,” Felix pointed out, still grinning with faux innocence. “So I don’t think it’s a height thing for him.” He cocked his head as the grin bled into a more ‘ _mildly concerned’_ look. “Are you still doing alright? Ready to call it a night?”

“I’m fine.” Mallory shook her head and took another swig from the water bottle. “I want to do another maybe ten minutes, and then I’ll go shower and try to get some sleep.”

“If you’re sure.” The grin reappeared as he settled back against the wall. “I have it on good authority you’re a big girl, after all.”

She laughed and tossed him the water bottle, which he caught, before picking up where she’d left off with the routine. Two weeks without it, she’d forgotten what good stress relief even just going through the motions could be, how much it helped clear her mind to deal with things-

 _“Deal with me?”_ the mocking voice echoed in her head, accompanied by the flashed image of hard eyes surrounded by greying black curls.

Mallory flinched and thrust her hand out toward the face in a palm strike, the movement far more vicious and forceful than any she’d done so far.

Wicked laughter filled her ears. _“Just what are you planning on doing with me?”_

She kicked out, which proved equally ineffective at stopping the hideous laugh.

 _“Going somewhere?” **his**_ voice menaced, underscored by the glint of metal and smell of rain on pavement.

A hand brushed her shoulder as she readied to throw another punch, and Mallory instinctively whipped her hand up and back.

Reality crashed in once more as she made solid contact and heard Felix yelp in the same instant her knuckles started to sting.

“ _Shit!_ ” She pivoted on one heel, hazel eyes wide in mortification. “Felix-”

“Trying to injure your way through the unit, detective?” he asked, his own gaze thoroughly amused over the hand pressed to his bloodied nose. “Watch out when you get to Mason; he’ll actually fight back.”

“I’m so sorry!” Mallory said fervently, her face warming despite his joke. She started to reach out with one hand and then pulled back.

Felix waved off her chagrin, a smirk peeking out from behind his hand. “This’ll be gone in a minute, tops. Don’t worry about it.”

“Sure, your nose’ll heal, but you still got blood on your shirt,” she pointed out, reaching forward to pluck at the fabric and exhibit the small crimson stains.

“Again, don’t worry about it. If it comes out, it comes out, if not...” he shrugged. “Not like it’s my favorite shirt or anything.” There was a gleam in his eye that made Mallory suspicious, but he didn’t give her a chance to follow that rabbit trail. “Or my first--or worst--bloody nose, for that matter.”

“No? What a relief,” she deadpanned, running one hand down her ponytail.

“Yeah, that honor goes to this spiky rogue demon-monster-thing we had to fight.” Felix gestured broadly as he spoke, and she could see, sure enough, his nose had already pretty much stopped bleeding. “Bigger than you but I think less intimidating,” he teased, winking in response to the dirty look she sent him. “Whacked me across the face with its tail when it was trying to get Mason. Damn near _broke_ my nose. And cheekbone. And jaw.”

Mallory snorted. “Good thing you have that lovely super-healing, huh?”

“It did come in handy,” Felix agreed, wiping his hand on his shirt. “Still was a mess of a nosebleed for a couple minutes. I _did_ have to throw out that shirt. And it took forever to get the bloodstains out of the scarf. In fact, if you know they’re there, you can still kind of see them,” he admitted as they left the training room and meandered down the hallway.

Mallory raised a brow. “Let me guess; the scarf _was_ a favorite.”

“Yeah.” Felix scuffed his foot against a mark on the floor and grinned. “Worth the extra effort to save.”

“I suppose with the ability to heal from just about anything, your clothes would take a worse beating than you do,” she said with a chuckle.

“You would be correct. It’s happened to all of us,” he shrugged. “That spiky demon thing also absolutely _shredded_ Mason’s favorite pair of jeans.” He snorted. “I think he might’ve ripped its head off if Nate hadn’t stopped him.”

 _Maybe he **should’ve** killed it if it was that dangerous_, Mallory thought, wondering how much damage the thing had done to _Mason_ in the process of ‘absolutely shredding’ his favorite jeans.

But Felix was still talking, which denied her a chance to comment. “...Nate lost a jacket fighting a banshee, and, well,” he turned to grin at her slyly, “I haven’t seen Adam wear his favorite t-shirt since a certain warehouse encounter ended with him getting shot.”

She actually stopped in her tracks at that, despite them not having reached her room. “What?”

His grin widened at her reaction. “Oh, come on, detective, surely in your line of work you’re familiar with the fact you can’t really fix bullet holes.”

“Yes, but, I’m usually more worried about that ending up true of _people_ opposed to clothes,” Mallory snarked, eyes on the floor as she resumed walking and tried to quash the small squirm of what felt an awful lot like guilt. She was familiar with the concept, and having experienced that irritation, couldn’t help but feel a _little_ bad now. No matter how much of an ass Adam could be.

“Fair,” Felix chuckled, matching her pace. “And it’s just an observation, not like he’s complained about it or anything.”

“That’s not saying much,” she muttered. “Only thing I’ve heard Adam complain about is including me in things.”

He shrugged. “In his defense, we _were_ chasing a ‘psycho vampire killer’, and you _are_ human, which meant there was more risk to you than us.”

“Mm,” she grunted in reluctant concession. It was a hard point to argue with _“I won’t risk losing you!”_ echoing in her memory and making her stomach lurch and feel all fluttery whenever she dwelt on it. Which she tried not to do; it just confused her. “Think I handled myself pretty well, though.”

“I think ‘pretty well’ is being modest,” he said dryly. “You _were_ the one who got close enough to take Murphy down.”

“It was a team effort,” Mallory waved off the praise. “And it’s not like what you four did was small potatoes.”

“True,” Felix agreed cheerfully. “You were still damn impressive.”

She chuckled and swished the end of her ponytail as it slid over her shoulder. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

With her looking at the floor and him looking at her, neither noticed the imposing blond figure outside Mallory’s room until they’d almost reached it.

Felix’s head snapped up first. “Oh, hey, Adam,” he said, a grin in his voice and eyes even if he kept it from tugging his lips. “Coming to check on the detective?”

“I was.” His voice held a frown that matched his expression when Mallory looked up. It was, of course, aimed at her. “Where were you?”

“Went for a walk,” she replied, lightly elbowing Felix in the ribs before she crossed her arms. “That’s allowed, right?”

Adam’s frown deepened, but before he said anything, Felix cleared his throat. 

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said, that grin finally reaching his lips. “I can see where this is going, and I’d hate to get in the middle of Mom and Dad fighting.” He was off down the hallway before either of them could protest the comparison. Both glowered after him briefly anyway before returning their attention to each other.

“I thought you were supposed to be resting,” Adam said sharply.

Mallory shrugged as she reached for the door handle. “And I thought you had better things to do than babysit me at three in the morning, but apparently we were both wrong.”

He let out a sigh that verged on a growl as he grabbed the door when she jerked it open and followed her into the room. “Detective-”

“What?” she snapped, crossing her arms again and cocking a brow at him, almost daring him to say what she suspected was coming.

“Where were you really?”

“Went for a walk,” she repeated. “ _Really_.” Then, after a beat of tense, eyes-locked silence, “to the training room.”

Adam stiffened(if that that was possible; the man already rivaled most boards). “What?!”

“You heard me, It’s not like I was full-on sparring with anyone; I just wanted to run through the motions of what I do as a workout. It’s been _two weeks_ , Adam. Do you really expect me to believe _you_ wouldn’t be restless if I tied _you_ down for two weeks?!”

He crossed his arms(mildly distracting, but only for a second) and scowled. “That’s _different_ -”

“Why? Because I’m _human_?” she demanded, rolling her shoulders in a vain attempt to relieve their building tension.

“No, because _ **you**_ are still _recovering_ -”

“Don’t. Start,” Mallory cut him off. She took a wide step forward and poked a finger into his chest. “I already get enough fussing from Mum and Nate for five people, I don’t need you adding to it. Why do you even _care_?!”

Something flickered in Adam’s icy green eyes, and Mallory wondered if she’d caught him as off-guard with the question as she had herself. But it was gone a heartbeat later as his scowl deepened and he batted her hand aside. “If you’re going to be part of Bravo, that makes it my responsibility to see that your recklessness and overconfidence don’t have consequences--”

Her temper blazed high enough it took a couple tries to make her voice work. “ _ **Overconf-?!**_ ”

“--particularly if you are going to exhibit a complete disregard for your own safety and health, forcing others to worry about it _for you_.”

“I am _not_ _**fragile**_ , Adam!” Mallory snapped, glaring up at him with added irritation from the flutter in her chest that his argument could almost be classified as _concern_. _I can take care of myself._

A muscle in his jaw twitched as he stared at her for several long seconds. That same _something_ flickered in his eyes again, softening them considerably and making her insides twist before it disappeared.

“Being tougher than I thought you were does not make you invincible, Detective,” he finally said, tone much softer but no less stern. “You should remember that and act accordingly.”

“I should, huh?” she challenged, tilting her chin up.

Adam held her gaze and raised a brow fractionally. “Yes. You should.”

As if to underscore the finality of his words, he turned on his heel and strode from the room.

Mallory watched the door close behind him and just stared at it for a minute, waiting for her temper to cool and breathing to slow. _He is the most infuriating-_

She shook her head with a sigh. It wasn’t worth the energy. Besides, as she’d been informed several times, minimizing stress would accelerate her recovery. 

Of course, less stress would be a lot easier to achieve if she could get her thoughts on something other than bloody _Adam_. _I’m still glad I shot him,_ she grumbled to herself as she grabbed a change of clothes and went to take that shower.

That, of course, brought to mind Felix’s comment and another pulse of guilt swirled with the lingering agitation to make her motions jerky and sharp as she started the water and stripped off the dirty clothes. Adam could be an arrogant, _infuriating_ ass at times, and she _really_ didn’t regret shooting him, but having sacrificed a couple favorite articles of clothing in the line of duty, she did feel _just a little_ bad about being the cause of that. The irony of which was not lost on her. Totally fine with having shot him, feeling guilty for ruining his favorite shirt in the process.

 _You could always replace it, if you feel that bad_ , a little voice in her head prodded as she stepped under the blissfully warm spray.

 _How?_ Mallory scoffed, running her fingers through her hair to check for knots. The silky black strands only snagged once or twice as the water soaked them. _I don’t know what color, what size, any of that..._

_So ask for help._

She could do that. If this was a course of action she chose to pursue, obviously. She wasn’t committing to anything. And _ **if**_ she did, she’d need to give Nate or Felix or whoever she asked a reason why she cared. Peace offering, since she was joining Bravo? She felt bad for costing him his favorite shirt?

Her irritation climbed as she rinsed shampoo out of her hair. Why was everything with Adam so damn _difficult_? Why did she care?

No, she knew the answer to that one.

_How does he always manage to get to me like this?!_

_You know the answer to that one, too,_ the little voice chuckled.

Mallory groaned and rested her forehead against the tiled wall. She did know, and wasn’t sure if it was best or most inconvenient, _**aggravating**_ fact of her life.

Maybe both.

She stood there for a few more minutes, letting the water run over her even though she was clean. Until she remembered the time and reluctantly shut it off. She shivered as she stepped out and quickly reached for her towel, drying hastily as goosebumps prickled her skin. The simple t-shirt and pants the Agency provided were comfortable enough, and even with her internal clock screwed up, she was beginning to feel the fact it was after three A.M. 

Whatever she decided to do--if anything--could wait until she’d had some sleep. And probably should, Mallory thought wryly. Sleep deprived decisions rarely proved the best course of action. And maybe that’s all this was; her tired mind making her feel guiltier over something little than she should. _Or maybe not..._ You were more honest when you were tired, after all.

 _Sleep,_ she chided herself. _Sleep first, then worry about the future and all that other stuff like getting along._ Adam wasn’t going anywhere( _More’s the pity_ , no she didn’t mean that), neither was the frustratingly warm curl just his _name_ sent through her insides, and for that matter, neither was _she_. There’d be plenty of time to figure things out later.

For now, though, the room no longer felt suffocating thanks to her late-night (early morning, rather) jaunt, and Mallory was content to slip back in bed. She was asleep almost the second her head touched the pillow.

Her dreams were much more pleasant than she expected. And cast in shades of icy emerald green.

But that was probably just a coincidence.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Felix, I love him so freaking much, he's so fun to write. :D (once I get something longer than 300 words written for him and his Detective that will 100% be going up here)


End file.
